Conference realignment: Decision time looming?

AUSTIN — Texas announced Friday the university’s board of regents will hold a special meeting Tuesday morning for “discussion and appropriate action regarding athletic conference membership.”

Translation? By Tuesday afternoon, the Longhorns could be on their way out of the Big 12.

With Colorado having already announced its departure for the Pac-10 and Nebraska reportedly accepting an invitation Friday to join the Big Ten, the Longhorns clearly failed in their efforts to keep the Big 12 together. Among the most likely next steps for UT is a move to the Pac-10, which is seeking to add the Longhorns, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to its conference.

A&M is still entertaining the idea of joining the SEC, but the Longhorns don’t share the Aggies’ interest in that league. Whether or not Texas politicians would allow the two biggest schools in the state to go separate ways is still unclear. A Kansas City television station reported earlier this week UT and A&M were going to join Nebraska in the Big Ten, but no sources have corroborated that report.

Baylor, which reportedly will be left out of the Pac-10 expansion plans, is among the schools hoping the Big 12 can carry on despite the loss of Nebraska and Colorado. But a UT source said school officials believe there is no way the league can remain viable without Nebraska, and that joining another conference is now the best option.

t UT’s super regional baseball game against TCU on Friday, athletic director DeLoss Dodds declined comment before ducking into his suite. Later, a university spokesman released the following Dodds statement:

“Our goals and hopes all along have been to keep the Big 12 Conference intact. The league has been great for its members. We also have been honorable, up front and forthright with regard to our work and responsiveness to all the possible and now definitive changes to conference landscapes. We are entrusted with the responsibility of administering our university athletics programs. That requires careful examination of any and all options. It is both premature and inappropriate to speculate on what our UT System Regents will discuss at next Tuesday¹s meeting. But, as the dynamics of the Big 12 continue to change around us, we will utilize additional time to continue our work and evaluate our options.”